Guerrillas in the Midst

"Don't clone, darling, colonize!" That's the motto of a secret society that will soon infiltrate a bar near you -- but you don't need a coded knock or password to join the club. Access to e-mail should do the trick.

"The gay scene is kind of boring these days; it's just the same old thing night after night," says Billy Trix, one of six founding members of the Denver Guerrilla Queer Bar, a group that formed this summer with the sole purpose of organizing fabulous parties. "We're just trying to find something new to do."

While organizing fabulous parties is not a new concept, the Guerrillas give the idea a fresh twist: They hit bars usually frequented by heterosexuals.

Since the Guerrillas' June launch, over 600 people have signed up on the group's Web site, www.DenverGuerrillas.com, to receive party notices. For the first fab bash, held last week, e-mail invitations were furtively sent out just hours before party time, luring members to a "yuppie breeder bar": Rock Bottom Brewery on the 16th Street Mall. "On any given night, you are likely to find it full of cellphone-carrying stockbrokers, bankers and marketing types," the invite read. "We think it's gonna be way more fabulous filled with loud queens, pretty boys, drag queens, butch lesbians, bi raver girls and leather men." And it was: Over 200 people showed up for the event (not counting the stockbrokers, bankers and marketing types who were already there).

"The first party was so great, I'm really amazed at how well it's being received here," says Trix, who borrowed his name from a '70s-rock-icon character in the British musical Closer to Heaven. Rock Bottom gave the eclectic crowd a warm welcome. "They were thrilled to have us," Trix reports. "The surprise is half the fun."

The first Guerrilla Queer Bar started in San Francisco in the spring of 2000; there are now fourteen groups across the country. "There were four guys who wanted to get up on the bar and dance, but the general manager wouldn't let them," remembers Trix, sighing. "When people get out of their normal environment, they're friendlier, more open. You just never know what can happen."

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